“His uniform was less rain-soaked than Lieutenant Rosselin-Metadi’s, but only because there was less of it to get wet.”

Just because a man’s built like a brick wall doesn’t mean he is one.”

“Stepping out of the tub, he wrapped himself in a nubbly bath towel roughly the size of a landing pad and returned to the bedroom.”

“They were gathered on Crystal World’s observation deck; like everything else about the little yacht, it was an exquisite miniature, and Beka’s brother had been moving for three days now with exaggerated care, as though he expected to break something the moment he let down his guard.”

He dressed like a rich Khesatan do-nothing straight out of the midafternoon holodramas, and he certainly had the accent for the part, but his hands were all wrong. They looked like they knew things the rest of him didn’t.”